Euobserver.com

EU has to decide whether it wants to go down in history as a force for peace by aligning itself with victims or to be remembered on the side of an apartheid government that slaughtered a defenceless people with impunity.

Ahdaf Soueif, who recently resigned from the British Museum, talks about the persistence of racist thinking, EU-funded authoritarianism in Egypt, and the Cold War roots of terror.

EU ambassadors met behind closed doors in Brussels to discuss the possibility of providing arms and ammunition to foreign armies in conflict areas like Mali. Not all were impressed by French-German support for a new EU 'peace fund'.

The European Parliament approved declaring a "climate emergency", ahead of next week's UN climate conference in Madrid - and three weeks after Donald Trump confirmed the United States' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

US tech firm Apple has begun showing Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as part of Russia in its map and weather apps when these are viewed from inside Russia, but as part of Ukraine when viewed from other locations. "Crimea and Sevastopol now appear on Apple devices as Russian territory," the Russian parliament said in a statement on Wednesday, the BBC reports.

MEPs have approved a resolution that calls on member states to ratify the Istanbul Convention, a legal instrument for preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. As of November 2018, all EU member states have signed the convention, but this international treaty remains blocked in the EU council by Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom.

MEPs on Thursday demanded new "free, inclusive and transparent" elections as soon as possible in Bolivia, after the president Evo Morales resigned under pressure from post-electorion protests and the military forces. MEPs reminded interim president Jeanine Áñez that she is obliged to quickly call new presidential elections, pointing out that this is "the only way out of the current crisis".

Outgoing EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will have access to some of the executive's resources for five years after leaving office, a commission spokeswoman said Thursday. Juncker can have an office provided by the commission, access to non-confidential information, such as figures and latest policy developments, and press articles. Juncker will also have access to a commission driver if he is called to perform as former commission chief.

Russia must pay Ukraine €2.4bn in a long-running gas dispute, a Swedish court has said, in a ruling that could lead to a repeat of the 2009 winter gas crisis in the EU.

A man convicted of a 1982 murder has the right to be forgotten and have his name removed from online search results, Germany's highest court ruled, AFP reported on Wednesday. His case was rejected by federal court in 2012 saying that his right to privacy did not outweigh public interest and press freedom. But the Karlsruhe court has now rejected that initial ruling and the case returns to federal courts.

German lawmakers on Wednesday discussed the possible danger of Turkey possessing hundreds of classified asylum requests, following the arrest of a lawyer working with the German embassy in Ankara. Yilmaz S. was arrested by Turkish authorities in September amid accusations that his work with the embassy amounted to espionage. German authorities dismissed the charges, DW reported. Germany already granted protection to 45 people involved.

EU governments will vote on Thursday on a new rule that would require multinational companies to reveal how much profit they make and how little tax they pay in the bloc's countries, the Guardian reported. The aim is to expose how large companies, with an annual turnover of more than €750m, avoid paying an estimated €50bn-€70bn a year in EU countries through tax avoidance, and tax deals with some governments.

An MRP poll, the only survey that predicted a hung parliament in the UK in the previous election, now says the Conservatives of prime minister Boris Johnson would win a landslide victory if the elections were held today, the Times writes. Based on a seat-to-seat analysis for the Times, the Conservatives would win 359 seats, while Labour would fall back to 211 seats and the LibDems to 13 seats.

A lawyer for the US ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, has said sexual harassment allegations against him were a form of "witness tampering" designed to harm his credibility in the impeachment enquiry against US president Donald Trump. Three women told their stories to US publications ProPublica and Portland Monthly shortly after he testified that Trump had tried to blackmail Ukraine into meddling in upcoming American elections.

As the share of the EU in the global economy shrinks, the soft power of its economic instruments and the attraction of the internal market is destined to decline.

EU seas will contain "more" and "bigger" fish five years from now - if the fisheries committee does its job. But rows on post-Brexit rights could grab attention.

The EU is hoping that a continent-wide free trade agreement in Africa will help lift millions out of poverty and help solve issues of security and migration. But its message of values and equal partnership do not resonate with everyone.

German chancellor Angela Merkel urged EU countries on Wednesday to speak as one in dealings with China, AFP reported. "One of the biggest dangers is that everyone in Europe has their own China policy, and that we end up sending completely different signals," Merkel said, adding that the EU should adopt a common strategy on developing 5G mobile networks, amid concerns that Chinese giant Huawei could be used for spying.

US president Donald Trump poses "perhaps the most difficult challenge" for the EU because he is "praying" for the breakup of the bloc, EU council president Donald Tusk told Germany's Die Zeit newspaper in an interview. "For the first time in history, there is an American president who is openly against a united Europe. He supports Brexit and prays for the breakup of the Union," the outgoing council chief said.

Nordic cooperation will give young people a powerful platform on stages in Madrid and Stockholm during the UN Climate Conference COP25 next month.